Are critics of this win required to wear Bike shorts, tobacco stained shirts and tube socks while they yell about keeping it real?
KQ- Yes
Since we have now hit 4 games, could we get a freshman redshirt report? Thanks!
KQ- Yes, working on that, there are some discrepancies between what PFF is reporting and GT's participation chart so I want to check on it this week and then hopefully have something up later in the week.
Ok- we’ve now seen enough games to see some sort of separation in teams. How does everyone look to you ? Is the seat hot for Mike Norvell?
KQ- So I have not watched Pitt play or much of UVA yet since they are not on GT's schedule. FSU is bad, Wake is bad, Duke is bad and there are a ton of teams in the middle bit including GT and then probably Miami and Clemson up top probably. I think the middle bit is pretty wide open, Miami is always a wait-and-see approach and Clemson hasn't been themselves for several years.
I think it would be foolish to fire Norvell right now. I don't think that is going to happen.
Bigger advantage going into next week in your opinion: GT, who has played two P5 teams and two weaker teams, battle-tested but beat up or Louisville, who has played two nobodies, well-rested and a bye week to prepare but hasn’t been hit in the mouth yet?
KQ- I think GT has more to draw on in times of adversity where Louisville has been in total control of their games so far so that is a slight edge. GT is more beat up which is the flip side of that however.
You think we get Linton or Walker? Which one do we have the better chance at?
KQ- Probably neither to be perfectly honest. Linton has a lot of stuff going on and Walker hasn't actually decommitted and I haven't seen UGA offer new RBs. If they do that then I'll think something is up.
What do games like the VMI game tell us if anything?
KQ- They won, handled their business and worked like pros at it. That is what you want to see from these games and what CPJ in his era did all the time. VMI is not good, but they didn't let them move the ball until the threes came in.
Is the Notre Dame game this year last one in the Benz. If not how many more.
KQ- I do not know where that stands. There has not been an announcement about extending the deal, there hasn't been an announcement about which GT game would be in the Benz either.
Nice to meet you today, Kelly! Who on the Louisville team should we be aware of and why?
KQ- Great to meet you as well. They have four RBs who have all put up numbers in the two laugher games and a portal QB Tyler Slough who has 6 TDs and 0 INTs with a 68% completion rate. On the defensive side, they have as many sacks as GT through just two games, Tramel Logan who they picked up from USF has 3 as a DE and they have a DB/LB hybrid Tamarion McDonald who has two sacks that was a Tennessee transfer. Those are the main ones.
Seems like every QB except Graham Knowles got in the game yesterday. Is there any update on Knowles or is it simply that Philo is progressing faster?
Also, I didn’t see Shymeik Jones get in the game. Any update on how he is progressing in practice?
Thanks for the coverage Kelly!
KQ- They wanted to get Brody Rhodes in the game so he got whatever snaps that Graham Knowles would have. Graham is the 5th banana at the moment, but they are pleased with his development so far, Philo is just ahead of him.
Shymeik Jones played like 10-12 snaps, you can check the PFF, he did fine when he was in there. It was good to see him get some reps.
Do you think Maddox will start to get more playing time or are we going to try to save him for next year? He looked good yesterday
KQ- You don't save RBs with redshirts, that isn't really a thing at that position. They still get banged up practicing or on a scout team so you might as well use them and ideally they want four guys. That is where they are at, Jamal Haynes, Trelain Maddox, Anthony Carrie and Chad Alexander. That was the goal going into the season. Daylon Gordon would be the next man up behind them.
Do you see Maddox and Carrie both burning their redshirt with the way they are producing?
KQ- Yeah as I said above, I think that Key is not big on redshirting guys who are not OL/DL players or a QB.
In your opinion what is the RB pecking order? After yesterday it looks like Maddox is #2. Is that because they are super high on him or trying to get a bigger back in the game because the other dudes are smaller. Just curious. I love them all so I don’t really care as long as they are productive
KQ- It is so hard because VMI was so overmatched against Maddox. I think you want to see how they all look against ACC opponents and go from there. Key is big on practice performance so that will be a huge factor.
With all the money in the sport right now and after these first four weeks of action, it seems the coaching carousel will be spinning early and often each year as teams aim to give investors a ROI. Please understand, I’m not concerned about this at all and I think it works out well for GT whenever it may happen, but in your opinion, to what level does Brent have to take GT to consistently before his name starts popping up in the carousel?
KQ- I get what you are saying. I think consistently being in the hunt for the ACC for two years puts him into the conversations for things like Florida if that were open. He isn't going to be a sexy pick in that scenario but that isn't always the way things play out. I don't see him being interested in the more dead-end SEC jobs. He knows how hard South Carolina or Arkansas or Miss State are as jobs. He has coached and recruited against all of them for many years. I am not sensing a Bill Curry vibe though, I know GT fans are concerned about that on some level. I think it would take something very special for him to ever consider leaving GT and let's not put the cart before the horse, there is a lot of work to be done between now and then.
I’m enjoying seeing mason start for the 49s and even juanyeh thomas returning kicks for the cowboys. Who on this team do you see getting drafted this year? Do you think anyone has the potential to go in the high rounds with great production this year?
KQ- Jackson Hawes and Avery Boyd the two TEs are the first two names that popped into my head. Romello Height, Zeek Biggers, Jordan Williams and Weston Franklin will all get looks as well depending on how they perform at Pro Day. Kevin Harris is another one who is kind of freaky like that too. Chase Lane seems like a longer shot, but he has looked pretty good so far at GT when healthy so if he can put together a consistent season he becomes interesting to me. Not sure on the Warren Burrell, Ahmari Harvey, and LaMiles Brooks group.
Do you think Wake Forest paying 1 million to back out of next years Ole Miss game is bad for the league?
KQ- I think it is a bad look for Wake Forest, but Ole Miss sure as hell backed out of playing GT when CPJ was here so they don't exactly have a lot of room to talk. That is why those games were played during the GC3 era.